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Police enjoy public support amid riots
Guns and roses: A resident gives a flower to a police officer securing a protest at Sarinah shopping area in Jakarta on Thursday
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uns and roses: A resident gives a flower to a police officer securing a protest at Sarinah shopping area in Jakarta on Thursday. The area has been the venue of people staging a rally in the wake of the General Elections Commission’s announcement of the result of the April 17 presidential election.(JP/Wendra Ajistyatama)
The police force doesn’t generally enjoy a good reputation, but it has been a different story since Wednesday, with the public showering officers with praise and support for containing postelection protests that have escalated into riots gripping parts of the capital.
Thousands of personnel were deployed to safeguard several locations, including the Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) building on Jl. MH Thamrin in Central Jakarta, where protesters gathered on Tuesday.
Social media posts spreading quickly among the public in the past few days suggest that, under their uniforms, police officers are just like the rest of us, contrary to their unpopular image.
Media accounts show them using their break times for quick video calls with their children or spouses. Some have been seen praying on cardboard cutouts on the street, others taking a rest on the sidewalk while guarding thoroughfares of the capital city.
Agnieska Putri, a resident of Tebet in South Jakarta, went to the Bawaslu building on Thursday afternoon to express her gratefulness to the police.
The 24-year-old, along with a group of friends, gave roses to several policemen guarding the area.
“I hope these roses will cheer them up. They worked really hard last night,” she told The Jakarta Post, referring to the riots taking place on Wednesday.
Another resident, Bobby, 37, who joined the group, said the rose was a symbol of their trust in the police.
Other residents have provided food and drinks for members of the force — especially those observing Ramadan — stationed at several locations of the city. Some handed over takjil (breaking-of-the-fast snacks) and others provided bottled water and meals.
Zoel, a member of the National Police’s Mobile Brigade in Palembang, South Sumatra, said he had been deployed to help secure Jakarta amid the announcement of the official election results by the General Elections Commission (KPU). He has been in the capital since April as part of security measures for the April 17 general elections.
His face lit up as he accepted a rose from the group.
“This really motivates me. Serving the public is our duty and I hope the public keeps supporting the police,” he told the Post.
Besides roses on Thursday, Zoel said the public had donated food and drinks to him and his colleagues. He said he used his short breaks to call his wife and their two daughters back home.
Another Mobile Brigade officer, Rusmanto, 35, has been assigned to Jakarta from his base in Padang, West Sumatra, since last month, leaving behind his family. The government’s decision to temporarily block certain features on some social media platforms and on popular messaging application WhatsApp made it harder for him to keep in touch with his family, he said, but public support boosted his spirit.
Another policeman from Padang, Arthur Sinaga, 45, said he had seen worse than Wednesday’s riots. A police officer since 1996, he had dealt with bigger crowds, including the May 1998 riots and a protest known as the 212 rally in December 2016, ahead of the Jakarta gubernatorial election.
Arthur and his colleagues from Padang had been deployed to secure the KPU building on Jl. Imam Bonjol on Tuesday. After two days, they were reassigned to the Bawaslu building.
“I haven’t had a real break since Tuesday. When I’m tired, I just take a nap on the sidewalk,” he said, adding that he liked to use any free minute to talk to his family on the phone.
“I talk to them so that I get motivated at work,” he said.
The National Police was among the least popular institutions in the country in the past. Surveys have shown the force to be perceived as corrupt and detested by the public. The Indonesian Ombudsman has received many complaints against the police over poor public services.
Times of trouble seem to alter that perception. The public threw its support behind the police during the terrorists attack on Jl. MH Thamrin in January 2016, commending the officers for swiftly containing the violence that left eight people dead, including four attackers. (das)
